Beard Papa's - Move Over!...BoLA's Heavenly Cream Puffs

I love cream puffs. The good ones, at least. Beard Papa's big two-layered crusted puffs with creamy vanilla bean custard. Angel Maid's sweet little soft puffs of pastry and deliciously smooth cream filling, tops dipped with milk chocolate.

And then there were Puffs by BoLA.

I searched for recipes and found a few that looked easy. Starting with the vanilla cream filling, I followed the directions of mixing the usual suspects of egg yolks, sugar, milk... and so on. The smell of vanilla filled the kitchen, and I was feeling mighty proud of myself.

This is easy...I thought.

But then the directions told me to stir the contents in my saucepan until the flour taste had cooked off. According to such recipe (which will not be posted), I was to mix continuously for 2-3 minutes. But after 5 and yet another 5 minutes, the taste of flour could not be cooked off.

Maybe if I stick it in the fridge to cool, something miraculous will happen...I foolishly thought.

So in the cream went, and I was on to the puffs.


My cream puff prep.

I followed the recipe to the tee....

INGREDIENTS:
+ ½ cup whole milk
+ ½ cup water
+ 6 Tbsp butter, cut into pieces
+ ¼ tsp salt
+ 1 cup flour
+ 4 large eggs



DIRECTIONS:
1) Combine milk, water, butter, salt in saucepan over med-high heat. Bring to full boil.
2) When butter melts, remove from heat and add flour all at once.
3) Stir with wooden spoon vigorously until blended.
4) Return to medium heat. Continue stirring until mixture leaves sides of pan and forms a ball. Remove from heat. Cool for 3-4 min.
5) Whisk 1 egg in small bowl. When batter has cooled, pour egg into it and beat until incorporated.
6) Add remaining 3 eggs, one at a time, whisking each one first and stirring into batter.
7) After each egg is added, mix separates and appears shiny. Keep beating and mix returns to smooth paste.
8) Let dough cool for about 10 min before shaping.
9) Preheat oven to 425° and position rack in middle. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
10) For small puffs, place 1 tsp of dough on baking sheet. For large puffs, place 1-2 Tbsp of dough. Space about 2 inches apart.
11) Bake puffs for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 375° for another 5-10 minutes or until golden brown.
12) Remove and immediately prick the side of each puff with tip of sharp knife. Turn off oven and return baking sheet for another 10-15 min to dry out pastries. Leave oven door open slightly. Cool on wire rack before filling.

Makes about 15 large or 40 small puffs. Recipe from "Essentials of Baking" by Williams-Sonoma.


Puffs cooling in the oven.

When all the puffs were cooled, I pulled out the chilled cream from the fridge but found that it was too runny to use with the same distinct flour taste as before.

A complete disaster.

Thankfully, my sharp Iron Chef reflexes kicked in, and I grabbed a box of trusty ready-to-eat Jello Vanilla Pudding Mix from the pantry. Mixed with cold milk, and the pudding was ready. Right consistency. Right color. Right flavor. To get the filling in the puffs, I used a kitchen injection tool which proved tedious, time consuming but oh-so-fun and very hands-on.

Next time, though, I'm definitely investing in a large enough pastry bag to fill these deliciously light cream puffs with ease and speed.

The filled puffs were light and crisp on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside. Just the way I love them. Eat them right away, and they're delicious. Top them with powdered sugar. Eat them with fruit. Or store them in the fridge for a softened morning, afternoon, evening treat.

Happy Eating!